Children Should Be Students, Not SoldiersShow your support for the Children, Not Soldiers campaign which seeks to galvanize support to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children by national security forces by 2016.

OUR FAVORITE PROJECTS

Help provide school lunches for an entire year for a child who has been orphaned by AIDS.

Of Zambia's 1.2 million orphans, more than half lost their parents to the HIV epidemic. Grandparents and extended families are struggling to provide basic needs for these children. Education can bring hope for a better life for the orphans and for subsequent generations and the right school can help provide for their immediate needs as well.

Cecily's Fund is a non-profit working to improve educational opportunities for Zambia's children, especially for orphans. Cecily's Fund supports a community school, Bwafwano (meaning 'helping one another'). Just outside Zambia's capital of Lusaka, Bwafwano serves over 750 students in grades 1 through 4. While at school, the students receive a much-needed midday meal -- for many, the only meal they will get all day.

Elementary and high school education not only increases these children's chances of avoiding HIV, it also prepares them to try for further education and vocational training. Cecily's Fund has supported over 1,400 children to move on from Bwafwano to secondary school, where they continue to receive help with shoes, uniforms, pens and fees. Elsewhere in Zambia, Cecily's Fund also provides its school graduates with post-school opportunities such as teacher training and training as peer health educators.